


Bitter Sweet Little Things

by priuchi



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Does this follow canon? no, Future AU, I'll update tags as this goes on, M/M, Secret Admirer, Secret Crush, Short Chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 13:02:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16854436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/priuchi/pseuds/priuchi





	1. Prelude

It started when Jounouchi was a second year, a month into the school year. Weird notes would be on his desk when he got to class, or stuck in his books after lunch, or placed on his shoes after school. Sometimes they said things like _“I hope you have a good day today,”_ or _“good luck on the test.”_ Sometimes the nature behind them were a little more obvious… _“I love your laugh,” “when you speak I feel like I can’t breathe,” “I wish I could be yours.”_

“Jou has a secret admirer!” Honda would tease if he caught Jounouchi reading the notes. _Secret admirer? Who would admire him? And why secretly?_

____

____

“I don’t recognize the handwriting at all.” Yugi would say. They tried to figure it out, Yugi and Anzu, but no one in the class had writing that matched the notes. “I guess it’s someone from a different class?” 

Before long it had just become part of Jounouchi’s daily life. Notes. Boxed lunches just when he had run out of money for food. Brand new mittens when it got cold. Small gestures that were always, somehow, just what Jou needed. It was creepy. But there never seemed to be anything malicious behind it. It seemed that someone genuinely cared about him. It irked him to no end that he couldn’t figure out who it was, but there was really nothing he could do it about it. Maybe someday they would reveal themselves.

But they never did. Summer came and there was silence. The notes and gifts came again come third year, and Jou secretly hoped that by the time graduation rolled along he would know who they were from. But like last year, there were no clues, and no attempt from that person to be any more than a mystery. And then it was over. High school had ended. There wouldn’t be a next year. The notes were done. And Jounouchi couldn’t help but feel a little empty thinking about it. He’d kept every note. So he went over them again, combing through every character, trying to find something, _anything,_ that would give him even the smallest hint. 

When he realized there was no way to figure it out, he couldn’t bare seeing them, such bitter sweet little things. But the thought of throwing them out? His stomach hurt at the idea. So he compromised, carefully packing the notes into a box, and into storage they went. 

Years past. Life changed. Duel tournaments. promo deals, money… it quickly became uninteresting to Jounouchi Katsuya. He spent some time figuring out what he wanted. Or trying to anyway. He found himself coming up blank. But he couldn’t do nothing. He found himself applying, more so jokingly, at what he’d always considered to be the last place he would want to work. 

“I think it’ll be funny. Can you imagine the look on his face when he sees my name on an application?” He told Yugi over their weekly lunch, a grin on his face. “Just imagine it!”

“Sure but, you know he’s probably not the one who looks over applications, I would think he has more important things to deal with.” 

“Maybe,” Jou replied, still grinning, “but the idea that it might happen is why I did it.” 

He got an email a few days later, happily congratulating him on his new position at Kaiba Corp.


	2. Welcome To Kaiba Corp

Jounouchi found himself standing outside Kaiba Corp, just starting up at the imposing building. Everything about Kaiba Corp was imposing, honestly. The power it’s name held, the shadow the building cast onto the parking lot… most of all, the guy who was probably up there sitting at his desk on the top floor. Seto Kaiba. Why that guy had decided to even bother continuing high school was a wonder to Jou. The guy was a CEO already, what good is a high school degree going to do? 

Seto had kept mostly to himself, after their first year. Second year he had still sort of been a jerk, but he didn’t constantly seek out conflict with Yugi, or even Jounouchi for that matter. By third year it was like something in Seto had changed. Or, snapped. He was incredibly reserved. Almost like he was just floating through the rest of school with other things on his mind. Yugi had kind of figured it maturity. Jounouchi had gone with insanity. 

Come to think of it, Kaiba Corp had been pretty quiet in recent years. No insane publicity stunts- just normal duel sponsorships. Seto Kaiba made short, brief appearances sometimes at tournaments or charity events, but it was mostly Mokuba handling the majority public appearances the last few years. The last time Jou could remember seeing Seto’s face somewhere was in a tabloid magazine that had photos of him at a museum opening. 

How long had he just been staring at the building for? He took a big breath and looked forward, legs carrying him forward. He knew he didn’t really have to do this. Applying was a joke. It was just a joke! They weren’t supposed to hire him. So why had he let them? Why was he actually showing up for his first day? He could just say fuck and and go home and forget this ever happened. And yet he kept walking. He pushed the doors open and walked right up to the front desk. 

Everything moved so damn quickly there. He met his immediate supervisor, and was given a tour, and filled and paperwork, and got an ID card, and watched the first round of training videos, and, and, and… Before he knew it there was an hour in the working day left, and his co worker was showing him something when he just kind of blurted it out.

“Is Kaiba here? Like, can I see him?” 

“Huh?” His co worker asked, turning toward him. “Seto or Mokuba?”

“Uh. Seto.” He frowned as his co worker laughed some. 

“Good one, Katsuya.” 

“It wasn’t a joke!” Jou retorted, crossing his arms. “I’m serious. I know him- I mean we aren’t friends but. But we used to duel together, and we were in the same high school class.” 

“Really?” the guy blinked, then shrugged. “I don’t think he’s in today. But you could always email him.” 

Email him, huh? Jou sat at his desk, staring at the blank email. Why did he want to see Seto again? Oh right, to ask him why the hell Kaiba Corp had hired him. Was that something you could ask in an email? 

_To: Seto Kaiba_  
From: Jounouchi Katsuya  
Subject: Long Time No See 

_Why on earth did you hire me? I thought I would have gotten an angry email from you about how I’m the last person in existance you would hire- and instead I get an employee badge and radio silence from you? Do you even know what kind of people your staff is hiring? Geez._  
_-Jou_

It probably wasn’t an appropriate email to send to a CEO. Jou sat there for another moment and stared at it before scowling and hitting send. If Kaiba wanted to fire him over it that was fine, it wasn’t like he wanted to work for the bastard anyway. He didn’t really need a job right now, he was just exploring possibilities. He shoved the email to the back of his mind and let what little of the day was left float by. 

He came into work the next day fully expecting to be fired as soon as he got to his desk, probably by Seto Kaiba himself. But everyone greeted him normally, and his supervisor went over some things with him before leaving him to do the next round of training… and he had one email. A reply. He knew he wouldn’t be able to focus on the training with that email sitting there. He had to open it. 

_To: Jounouchi Katsuya_  
From: Seto Kaiba  
Subject: RE: Long Time No See 

_Jounouchi,_  
You were hired because you applied. If you didn’t want to be hired, than what was the point of sending in an application? I know you’re a moron, but I thought you would at least know how hiring process words. Maybe I’m giving you too much credit. As for whether I knew you were working here… do you seriously think I personally vet every new hire? I’m not even in the country right now. So no, I did not know you had been hired. And to anticipate your next question, yes, I still would have let them hire you if I had known ahead of time. I trust my hiring staff, and if they thought you would be a good fit, then so be it. Things must have changed over the last few years, if you were able to properly fill out an application. Here’s a question for you; why did you stop dueling?   
_-SK_

Jounouchi huffed at the email, closing it without replying. He had to watch the first training video over twice before he could comprehend it. His head just wouldn’t stop swimming. What a bastard. He forced himself to finish the first section of training before opening the email back up and hitting reply. 

_To: Seto Kaiba_  
From: Jounouchi Katsuya  
Subject: Long Time No See 

_Glad to see you’re still really annoying. Where are you right now? Sipping wine in Paris while you write shitty emails? And… I can’t really explain why I quit dueling. Just wasn’t feeling it anymore. Did a few odd jobs for a while, and now I’m here._  
_-Jou_

He found himself focusing better after sending a reply. It wasn’t until he had come back from lunch that he had another reply from Kaiba. 

_To: Jounouchi Katsuya_  
From: Seto Kaiba  
Subject: RE: Long Time No See 

_I’m back on Friday. Lunch?_


End file.
